Exploring Children's Literature

As JL would say, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

So, when the orthopedist said, “When do you want to do this?” I immediately jumped to all my plans and counted two months into the future before I got to a stopping place. Of course, friends and family asked if I could wait that long. Why not? We probably should have done this at least a year ago as it is.

What the heck am I talking about? A hip replacement. See, I already have two artificial knees and the other hip twinges from time to time. By the time I’m officially old, osteoarthritis will have destroyed all the joints in my body. And I’ll be bionic.

First, I had to meet my new grandson. Stevie Ray Poduska Adams is now eight weeks old, but he surprised us all by making a three-week early entry into the world. He and Mama are fine now. Daddy and cat are still a little in shock.

Then, I HAD to go to LA again for the annual SCBWI conference. It was fantastic!

The facts about LA that always amaze me:

Just how giving and warm all the participants are. We “veterans” are not always able to discern the real newbies. Sometimes, the bewildered look can be on someone who has been there many times and just forgot what they want to do next. But writers – and even a lot of illustrators – are, by and large, very much introverted and have to force themselves to put it out there. The pre-conference newbie meeting is a well-attended event. One funny confession I heard was from someone who claims to be an extrovert.

Just how much a person can learn in three or four short days. My head is still spinning. It’s a good thing I took some notes.

The next week, my oldest brother visited with us. Interesting times, adjusting to the habits of other people for seven days. Also interesting to see how getting older affects that situation. My brother has Parkinson’s disease, so he has more problems moving around than I do and takes some pretty heavy-duty meds.

We saw The Giver movie one day. It followed the book fairly well, but I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the changes made. Naturally. Are book lovers ever entirely happy with the movie?

Lastly, my region is getting ready for our two-day conference on September 20-21. I’m mostly in charge of the venue, part of the registration duties, the speakers dinner, and transportation for the speakers. A big, time-consuming, and thought-consuming job.

So, these are the main reasons I didn’t have the surgery right away. After September 21, I can concentrate on recovery. Of course, I may have to watch a baseball game or two too. And I keep reminding myself that these experiences can easily show up in a book someday.